1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a pedal indicator and teaching system for an electronic musical instrument, specifically an electronic organ. In playing the electronic organ, it is common for the organist to play the melody with the right hand, the chord accompaniment with the left hand and the bass accompaniment with the left foot on the pedal clavier. The left hand chording is usually played at a different rhythm. It is difficult for the beginning organist to develop the dexterity and timing necessary to physically play the bass note accompaniment on the pedal clavier or to know which pedals form a suitable gass accompaniment routine for a particular combination of keys or chords played with the left hand. In addition, for the beginning organist, it is difficult to associate the chord played by the left hand to the bass root pedal of the pedal clavier corresponding to that chord.
The system visually indicates a bass note routine for accompanying a group of keys depressed by an instrument player by energizing selected ones of a plurality of lights mounted above the pedal clavier. The system also has the capability for automatically providing a musical bass note accompaniment output to complement the visual display. The instrument player selects whether the system operates with the audio and visual display or only the visual display. The system also has a selectable non-rhythmic mode in which it illuminates either the root bass note pedal light in response to a chord played by the organist, or the lowest bass note pedal light corresponding to the keys actually depressed. The instrument player selects whether the system sounds the single bass note or only illuminates the pedal light. Thus the system permits the organist to learn the association between the chords played and the bass note accompaniment routine or the association between the chord played and the root bass note.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. The pedal teaching and indicating system of the present invention may be employed in a variety of forms, as one skilled in the art will recognize in light of the present disclosure.
2. Prior Art
Teaching aids or systems for electronic organs which assist the instrument player in learning the musical relationship between the keys and the pedals and in developing the necessary hand and foot coordination and timing are well-known in the prior art. Some of these systems use light displays in association with the keyboard or pedal clavier to visually aid the organist in developing the appropriate playing skills.
Teaching systems in common use frequently rely upon preprogrammed data from a tape or other source separate from the organ to provide information for controlling the light displays or other visual indicia. In these systems the actual physical relationship between the left hand chord playing and the left foot bass note accompaniment is diluted and impaired. Frequently a beginning organist may be an accomplished keyboard musical artist such as a pianist, and fundamental instruction regarding the playing on a keyboard is unnecessary. However, the correlation between the keyboard playing and the playing of a bass note accompaniment routine on the pedal clavier has no counterpart in other instruments and must be mastered by every organist.
It is a general object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior pedal teaching systems.
An object of this invention is to provide a teaching aid to illustrate on a light panel positioned above the pedal clavier a bass note pedal routine for accompanying a chord or group of keys played.
Another object of this invention is to provide a teaching aid to visually illustrate to the organist a bass note pedal rountine for accompanying a chord or group of keys played and simultaneously to audibly illustrate the sound of the proper bass notes.
Another object of this invention is to provide a teaching aid to illustrate to the organist the root note pedal associated with a chord.
Another object of this invention is to provide a teaching aid to visually indicate to the organist the root note of a chord and to audibly illustrate the sound of the root note.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for reducing a number of circuit lines necessary for uniquely driving one of a plurality of indicator devices in response to octavely related input data.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system responsive to octavely related input data in which the number of drivable indicator devices is easily expanded or reduced.
Other objects will be apparent from the summary and detailed description.